Mabel's Missing Data and Other Considerations

The data used for the visualizations across this project now means perfect, entirely accurate, or without flaws and limitations. I have accounted for some of these limitations where appropriate in my explanations, but use this page to share two considerations that merit their own discussion. Please note that these three are hardly exhaustive, will require further consideration, and--in some cases--will remain inherently undeterminable.

Roughly half of Mabel Normand's Films Survive Today

The most obvious hurdle to using filmography data alone, is that only about half of Normand’s films survive. Further, some records of Normand’s filmography--much like accounts of her life--display contradictory information. These missing and conflicting records make conclusive evaluations of Normand’s achievements and contributions difficult to point out. However I contend that because there is little else to go on, the information that does remain is still worth using to give a sense of the ways in which Normand was a key figure in the history of film comedy. Further as the graph below shows enough films across her entire career survive.

But the Survival Rate is Pretty Evenly Distributed Across Her Career (Chronologically...)

With such an even distribution of missing films to living films, it is easy to feel that what remains might be representative enough. However, consider that Normand’s higher output at Keystone means that era will end up better represented that the period at Goldwyn, when Normand was making fewer, longer films with a different team. The films that do remain are sufficient enough for large scale inquiry because we retain records (in some form) for most. So, while the films remain unavailable to view, we can work with their other dimensions as I have attempted here.

Dispersed and Unvalidated Earning Information

In addition to missing films, there are missing records, the conflicting accounts from her collaborators, speculation from historians with questionable priorities, and information that has not yet been collected. These all pose interesting avenues for further inquiry.

One of the most fascinating dimensions yet to be fully accounted for is Normand’s earnings at each studio relative to her co-stars, relative to the actors at the time, and particularly to other stars of her age and gender. Something that may complicate analysis here would be its dispersal across various biographies, trade paper notices, unverified rumors, and the ancillary income Normand may have collected by doing advertisements.

Unmade Films

With the exception of Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, many of Normands collaborators (most notably Sennett, Chaplin, Goldwyn) would continue their careers after hers declined, and well after she had passed. Against better judgement and sound training in formal analysis, I cannot help but wonder if she would have wanted to continue making films had she survived the tuberculosis, had she not been hampered by scandal after scandal, and had better luck with studio timing. Her distinct performance style and outlook may have developed as other silent comics did, and she might enjoy a different legacy today.

Still, consideration of early film history will continue to be as much marked by her presence as her absence.